Dubai crown prince buys camel for record $2.7mn

BEAUTY CONTEST: Sheikh Hamdan has purchased a camel for a record $2.75 million.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashed Al-Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, has bought a female camel for a record $2.72 million, the official Emirates news agency Wam reported on Monday.

The female camel bought by Sheikh Hamdan at a camel beauty pageant in UAE capital Abu Dhabi was the most expensive one bought, one of the organisers said.

"The crown prince bought camels... worth 16.5 million UAE dirhams ($4.49 million), including a female camel... for 10 million dirhams ($2.72 million)," Hamad bin Kardous Al-Amiri said, reported Wam.

Al-Amiri, who said the camel had been bought from seller Sari Al Mazrouie, was speaking at the sidelines of the nine-day beauty pageant, the Mazayin Dhafra Camel Festival, which opened last week on Wednesday in the Gulf state.

More than 10,000 camels, including females which are the fastest for racing, from across the region are competing for prize money worth $9.5 million in total. One hundred cars are also being offered as prizes.

The contest is part of a festival being organised by Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) that aims to celebrate and preserve the region's cultural heritage.

It is being sponsored by General Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

Abu Dhabi has previously produced the world's first test-tube purebred camel and has begun using remote-controlled robot riders in its camel races in place of child jockeys.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Prince pays 2.7mn for a camel
Posted by Hussain Motabagani, Jeddah/Thuwal, Saudi Arabia on Sunday 13 April 2008 at 11:45 UAE time


Note to self:

Quit job...start breeding camels.......and teach children (if i ever have any) to stay home from school and play football for a living

THe real money makers....

wish i was a camel!

Woahhh
Posted by sandra, oakachobe, united states on Wednesday 9 April 2008 at 16:33 UAE time

Wow that is way too much to be paying for a camel!!! Even for a prince... Seriously.

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